Arcane Topics in Economics and Philosophy, Interspersed with Various Distractions

December 31, 2007

Sorry for the hiatus. I'm in San Diego visiting family and haven't followed my normal routine. But I just wrote Chapter 4 of my novel, in case anyone's interested. Here's an excerpt:

"Checkmate," said Lionel.

I knocked over my king. "Yup... Wow... You're better than you used to be."

"I think harder than I used to. I'm more careful. I don't let my
desires get the better of me. I think it's habits of minds I picked up
as a businessman."

We were silent for a while. The neighborhood was asleep. Behind
the row of houses opposite was the orange glow of a few streetlamps.
Overhead, a full moon shone halfway up the sky. The wind rustled in
the leaves.

"Mike, can I ask you something?" said Lionel.

"Sure, go ahead."

He waited for a while and looked at me.

"Do you believe in God?"

This is where the novel gets theological. I guess I get my idea that theology belongs in a novel from the Russians. The justification for that, I guess, is that belief and unbelief in God has to do with more than arguments, it has a context of character and life.

Comments

Oddly, my main character is devout in the overwhelmingly dominant faith of her society, despite that her somewhat-embittered father is lapsed and occasionally heretical. I sometimes wonder if I write her interaction with her idea of the Gods accurately.

Ultimately, of course, my novels are not theological in character, so there's a fundamental difference. That peoples' view of the divine/sublime must inform the rest of their lives is probably accurate, in those who live an examined life.

Sorry, meant to write more... Interesting that we try to write characters on the other side... The problem with writing a devout character for me is that they have to be devout in some particular religion. It would be difficult for me to write a character who was devout in any religion other than mine, and that narrows the potential audience, because the non-devout might find it hard to understand the character. Also, when I came up with the plotline for this novel I was maybe less devout than now, although I'm not sure, that's a hard thing to know about oneself. But I think so.